Chapter 2

2

"Daddy!"

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard my son's voice.

"Don't be scared, Dad is here..." I whispered, reaching out.

But as I turned my head, I saw Leo sprinting past me and jumping into Silas Thorne's arms.

The man he was calling "Daddy" wasn't me.

A cold, sharp blade of despair sliced through my heart.

"You idiot! How dare you ruin Mr. Thorne's anniversary gala! I'll kill you!"

The car owner rained punches down on me.

The commotion finally drew my parents over. They looked down at me with chillingly calm eyes.

I expected a flicker of guilt, or maybe a hint of recognition.

But my father simply said, "You shouldn't have come here."

"By coming here, you've officially lost everything."

I stared up at him, my voice trembling.

"My own parents faked death and illness to trick me. My wife cheated on me with another man behind my back. My son calls someone else his father."

"Are you telling me that if I hadn't found out, I could have kept living that lie?"

"This is pathetic!" I screamed.

"You people are disgusting! You're monsters!"

I couldn't stop the roar of fury leaving my throat. They hadn't treated me like a human being for a single second.

My father looked at me with a complex, unreadable expression.

From the safety of Silas's arms, my son watched me with cold indifference and spat on the floor toward me.

My wife, Rosalie, hesitated for a moment before stepping toward me.

By then, the security guards had pinned me to the floor. I glared at her through a veil of tears and burning rage.

The car owner started bowing and scraping, apologizing frantically.

"I am so sorry, Mrs. Thorne! I had a few drinks and hired this valet, but I didn't know he was a psycho."

"Please, Mrs. Thorne, tell the Chairman not to take it out on me."

I watched him grovel to Rosalie, calling her Mrs. Thorne as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The guards called her Mrs. Thorne, but the Mr. Thorne she belonged to clearly wasn't me.

I glared at Silas on the stage, the fire in my chest growing hotter.

While I was working myself to the bone to support them, they were sitting on millions, laughing at my struggle!

Rosalie waved the guards off and reached down to help me up.

I slapped her hand away and hauled myself to my feet, looming over her.

"The family never went bankrupt, did they? It was all a play to keep me from touching the Thorne fortune, wasn't it?"

"Finnian..."

Rosalie whispered my name, looking like she wanted to explain.

But she just stood there with her mouth open, unable to find a single word.

Her silence was her confession.

I threw my head back and laughed, the sound hollow and manic.

"I'm nothing but a damn joke to all of you!"